Detectives search apartment of missing Everett-area woman

Snohomish County sheriff's detectives and investigators from the State Patrol crime lab spent much of Wednesday searching the Everett-area apartment of a 35-year-old woman who may have been missing for a week.

Late Tuesday, one of Sherry Harlan's co-workers contacted the Sheriff's Office to report that Harlan hadn't shown up for her last two or three shifts at work, said sheriff's spokeswoman Rebecca Hover.

A deputy was sent to Harlan's unit at the Cedar Creek Apartments in the 11600 block of Highway 99, south of the Everett city limits, to conduct a welfare check.

After the deputy didn't find Harlan at home, detectives obtained a search warrant to enter her apartment on Wednesday morning, Hover said.

That Harlan missed work is "highly unusual," Hover said, describing her as "punctual and responsible about her work." It's possible Harlan "has been missing up to a week," Hover said.

One neighbor said Harlan had been dating a man who had been sent to prison. He was released from prison Dec. 26.

"She told me she wanted to break it off, but she was afraid he would break everything she owned and that he would hurt her," said the neighbor, who declined to be named.

"He stressed her out. She told me herself that she was afraid of him. He broke her car; he broke her cellphone; he shot her dog in the eye with a BB gun," the woman said.

Hover offered few details of the sheriff's investigation. She said Harlan's vehicle also is missing. Her car is described as a blue-ish-gray, four-door 1989 Nissan Sentra with Washington license-plate 928 RVN.

Harlan, who moved into the Cedar Creek Apartments two months ago, lived alone, Hover said.

Harlan's neighbor said that around 9 p.m. Tuesday, while waiting for sheriff's deputies to arrive, an apartment manager gave her and a maintenance worker permission to unlock Harlan's apartment, where lights had been left on for several days.

The woman said most of the kitchen linoleum had been pulled up, patches of carpet and padding had been removed, and there was a "strong, overwhelming smell of bleach." She also said Harlan's dog, Roscoe, was gone, along with the dog's crate.

"It smelled like it had been cleaned and then somebody took bleach and poured it all over," the woman said of Harlan's unit.

Hover said she could not confirm that information nor discuss specifics of what was found inside the apartment.

The neighbor said Harlan, who works at the JCPenney store at the Alderwood mall in Lynnwood, is "very sweet" and sticks to a routine. Officials at the store declined to comment about Harlan.

Anyone with information about Harlan's whereabouts is asked to call the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office tip line at 425-388-3845.

Seattle Times staff reporter Jennifer Sullivan and news researcher Miyoko Wolf contributed to this report.

Sara Jean Green: 206-515-5654 or sgreen@seattletimes.com

Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com